Improved apparatus for launching vessels



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS F. ROWLAND, OF GREEN POINT, NEW YORK.

IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR. LAUNCHING VESSELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,418, dated May 5, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS F. ROWLAND, of Green Point, in the county ofKings and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Controlling thc Launching of Vessels; and I do hereby decla-re that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying-drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section, of a portion of the ways for launching a vessel. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresp nding parts in the two gures.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A A are the lower or permanent ways, and B B their supporting-blocks.

C (l are the upper or sliding ways, tted to the permanent nays and combined with the vessel in the usual manner.

D is the catch-shaft, fitted to bearings a a in the permanent ways, just below the surfaces th ereof.

castiron lining-pieces d d, and they and the catches are so shaped that the catches entering them, as shown in black in Fig. l, may serve to prevent the ways C C from sliding down A A, provided the shaft is properly secured from turning.

E E are'levers tted to squares on the ends ofthe shaft D, or otherwise so applied thereto as to cause the said shaft to turn wiih them, and prevent it from turning without them.

Before bringing the whole weight of the vessel upon the ways, as is necessary preparatory to launching, the shaft is turned by means of lthe levers E E into the position shown in black outline in Fig. l, and the levers are then secured by suitable means to prevent the shaft from turning until the blocks have been removed from below the keel, and all other obstructions to the movement of the sliding wa ys have been removed, and the men employed in removing them have all escaped, when, by turning the shaft by means of the levers, or allowing it to be turned by the pressure ofthe sliding ways against the catches b b to the position shown in red outline, the sliding,r ways are liberated, and, .with the vessel upon theln, slide down the permanent ways A A.

It is obvious that the catch-shaft may be attached to the upper or sliding ways, and the catches engage in notches in the lower or stationary ways; but the. arrangement first described is in some respects preferable.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The arrangement or use, in connection with the ways A C, of the rotating shaft D, extending from one set of ways to the other, and prfvided with catches b, all operating in the manner herein shown and described.

THOS. F. ROWLAND. Witnesses:

R. GAWLEY,

TIMOTHY SHINE. 

